This invention relates to a follow-through measuring device. More particularly, the invention relates to a device which measures the length of time a tennis racquet, baseball bat or golf club is in contact with a ball, and displays the measured time.
Many sports, such as tennis, baseball, and golf, use equipment that is swung by the individual players to strike a ball. The act of continuing the swing of a tennis racquet, baseball bat, or golf club to its natural end after striking the ball, also commonly referred to as follow-through, when properly executed, significantly enhances the performance of the game. The longer the time period of impact between the ball and the striking instrument, the greater the exiting ball velocity and the greater the distance the ball travels. Especially in the game of tennis, the ability to consistently execute proper follow-through not only increases the power with which the ball is hit but also increases one's ability to control the ball.
Thus, it is desirable to have a device that can indicate whether a proper follow-through has been executed by measuring the length of time the ball is in contact with the hitting instrument and visually displaying the measured time. If players have an ability to monitor their swing, they can quickly adjust their swinging technique which will produce a superior swing with a proper follow-through.
While various references uncovered in the prior art provide devices that utilize transducers to compute ball distance, no device measures and displays the time duration of impact between a ball and a swinging implement. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,324 to Farmer discloses an athletic implement with visual range display which employs an accelerometer mounted in the golf club head to compute ball distance. U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,236 to Allen discloses another device which computes ball distance by utilizing a molecularly polarized piezoelectric plastic film composite mounted in the golf club head.
Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,483 to Gedney discloses yet another device which computes ball distance by utilizing an array of polyvinylidene fluoride film sensor elements mounted in the golf club head. U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,783 to Matcovich discloses a baseball bat having an accelerometer to determine whether the impact between a baseball bat and a baseball occurred before, after, or exactly at the time of maximum velocity.
While these units mentioned above may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.